1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to the assembly of electrical products such as household appliance cords and particularly to electrical supply cord processing prior to connection to the appliance.
2. Description Of The Prior Art And Objectives Of The Invention
Electrical consumer products manufactured for use in the United States usually require a conventional 110 volt AC, 60 cycle household current and are sold by various manufacturers with an electrical cord having a male plug attached. With the increase in the demand of such consumer products in recent years, manufacturers and producers of a variety of consumer devices have sought ways to increase productivity and to save costs in an ever-increasing competitive market. Household items such as electric fans, can openers, steam irons, hair dryers, radios and other products have an electrical cord with two or three conductors which are generally vinyl clad and contained within an outer jacket also conventionally made from a vinyl material. The conductors are positioned within the outer jacket in a helix configuration and also contained therein are two (2) or three (3) bundles of fiberous filler material which is conventionally made from polypropylene or other synthetic, non-conducting materials. Filler formed from paper is also still used to some degree but the extent of its use has diminished in recent years.
In order to attach the electrical conductors of an electrical cord to an appliance or to a male plug, a section of the outer jacket and filler therealong have to be first removed. Various machines have been developed to remove filler from electrical cords such as shown in my previous pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 902,425 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,903. However, such prior devices have required manual control and dexterity such as requiring the operator to "roll" the cord end over a "blade" of hot air to effect filler removal. Such prior art devices and methods have been successful but because of the higher production demands and efficiency requirements, it has been long sought to do away with the operator's skill, dexterity and judgment during filler removal operations.
With the present background well documented and the disadvantages known of conventional filler removal devices and methods, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide an electrical cord filler removal apparatus which will eliminate the necessity of an operator turning or rotating the electrical cord during filler degradation and subsequent removal.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a filler removal apparatus and method in which a degradation fluid strikes the cord from an encircled position to provide quick and uniform degradation completely around the cord regardless of the filler placement along or among the electrical conductors.
It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a receptacle for receiving an electrical cord end (which has had its outer jacket removed) having a conically shaped entrance to assist in guiding the stripped cord end therein.
It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a receptacle for receiving a cord end which will hingedly open to receive cords which are positioned on a conveyor.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus which includes a microprocessor which will control conditioned and ambient fluids to the receptacle and cord for adjustably controlling the temperature, time, frequency and velocity of the fluids which are used to degradate and remove the filler from the electrical cord to insure a fast and cost efficient removal method.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed presentation of the apparatus and methods of filler removal are presented below.